


Of Bugs And Men

by AnxiousCoffee (TheHallowedAngel)



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Caring Ian Gallagher, During Canon, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Food Poisoning, Gen, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, Smoking, Swearing, Underage Smoking, Vomiting, not sure of Lip's exact age so I'm putting him at 18 for this fic, sick Lip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 11:32:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHallowedAngel/pseuds/AnxiousCoffee
Summary: It takes a lot more than a little stomach upset to take Lip down, or does it?





	Of Bugs And Men

**Author's Note:**

> There's a startling lack of sickfic for Lip so I aim to correct that. There might be a part two, there might not be, we'll have to see.
> 
> This started out at like 2.9K but then I edited and it went down to 2.4K, there was a lot of unnecessary babble at the start, and there was a bit where Fiona went to go get the thermometer and left Lip alone with Steve, but it just didn't fit the pace and I can always stick that in a different fic.

Lip woke up at maybe 3 or 4 am, no watch or clocks so he couldn’t tell, almost smacking his head on the ceiling as he jolted awake. For a moment he was just dazed, body in a state of limbo before a silent heave rolled up his spine, dragging his stomach up his throat.

He's never scrambled out of bed so fast, almost tripping over as his foot caught on something he couldn't quite make out the exact shape of, but when it groaned he figured it was probably Carl.

He was forever falling asleep on the floor, hyperactivity always had him up till the small hours over the littlest things. Lip had always sworn to himself that the second they could afford it, he was going to do his best to get Carl on something to help calm him down.

Lip leant heavily on the door frame to the bathroom and took a deep breath, finding his stomach had settled at least some during the mad dash for the toilet. A deep breath in and a deep breath out and he almost felt like he could crawl back into bed. 

False hope; his gut cramped again and his stomach was in his rib-cage, churning so hard it had to be visible. There was a moment where he thought he wasn't going to make it, between the lunge for the toilet and the over-correction that almost had him on his back, he felt acid burn the back of his throat as a badly timed gag had vomit hitting the back of his teeth.

Fiona walked in just as he was tugging his long sleeves over his hands and folding his arms over the bowl, resting his forehead against one of his forearms as he opened his mouth and retched. A wave of pale brown fluid hit the water and they both cringed, the smell of it catching Lip off guard and bringing on another heave. Lip felt around with his foot until he caught the edge of the door and kicked it as hard as he could, and Fiona fumbled with it for a moment before she took the hint and stepped back behind the threshold, closing the door as she did. 

Steve was soon by her side, shooting her a confused look as she pressed her ear to the door and held her breath. There was a shuddering retch, the sound echoing inside the bowl, and then the sound of sick hitting the water again, but this time it sounded harsher, thicker. Fiona turned to Steve, who was grimacing, with a deep frown on her face.

"Who's in there? Is it Ian?" Steve asked, and Fiona shook her head.

"Lip." She corrected, reaching for the door handle but thinking better of it. Phillip typically held no value to his privacy, but if he kicked the door closed then it was likely he didn't want anyone else in there right now.

-

Lip gagged on the next breath he took, bringing up a thin stream of what he assumed use to be beer, groaning into the toilet and spitting out the taste left in his mouth. Feeling as though his stomach was done trying to kill him for now, he coughed, dry heaved, and then sat back on his heels, flushing the toilet as an afterthought. 

"You can come in now." He said, voice betraying him. Lip scrubbed a hand over his mouth as the door opened, sniffing.

"You okay?" Fiona sounded more worried about him than she had since he broke down over his cereal a little after their mum walked out on them all.

"Fuckin' peachy." He mumbled, flopping down onto his ass and leaning against the wall. He sniffed again, trying to clear his nose. Fiona scratched the back of her neck, pulling at the bottom of her shirt with the other hand, and Steve just stood in the door frame, hands jammed into the back of his boxer shorts to keep from holding them awkwardly by his sides. Neither of them were too bothered about the sour smell hanging in the air, you got used to it after living with Frank for any longer than a week.

“You know what caused this? You didn’t eat with us tonight, did you?” Fiona offered him a small smile, but Lip just blinked up at her with a displeased look on his face. He fished about behind the back of the toilet and pulled out a packet of cigarettes he stashed back there, pulling one out along with a lighter kept in the box; Fiona wanted to tell him not to do that, but Lip probably wouldn’t listen to her.

“Don’t know, haven’t eaten since lunch. Didn’t feel good.” He spoke quietly, shrugging. He put the cigarette between his lips and lit it as best he could with his hands shaking as much as they were, taking a long drag before he stuffed the lighter back into the cardboard packet and jammed it back behind the toilet. With a groan, he closed his eyes and rested his head against the tiles, exhaling softly and releasing a cloud of smoke into the air around him.

“We all ate the same thing for breakfast, so it can’t be that. Did you get lunch at school?” Steve spoke up this time, and as much as Lip should have appreciated his concern, he really couldn’t be bothered to deal with his voice right now. All the same, he shrugged again, taking another drag and blowing out a shaky breath.

“I got lunch with one of the kids from me econ class, I wrote him a paper and got him a-” Lip cut himself off, closing a fist and pressing it to his face as his stomach cramped and something was forcing it’s way up again, burning as it did. He swallowed compulsively, taking enough time to make sure he could talk before he even dared open his mouth. Fiona was slowly getting closer, the mothering part of her itching like crazy; Lip tried not to be bothered by it.

And if he were stupid, he would keep entertaining the two of them, but Lip was not stupid. 

“Could you uh,”- another swallow, this time he seemed to struggle -“Could you give me a second?” 

Fiona raised an eyebrow. “You gonna throw up again?”

“Mm-hm.” he hummed, dragging himself back up onto his knees before the bowl and planting his elbows on either side, resting his forehead on his palms, careful not to let the lit end of the cigarette come in contact with his hair.

“Oookay, we’re going, but we’re just down the hall if you need us, just groan really loud.” she smiled at him, grabbing Steve by the arm as she walked away from the bathroom, doubling back to pull the door shut and leaving him alone with his own suffering.

-

It didn’t take a lot this time, not so much as a gag before a flood of thick vomit as rushing over his tongue, hitting the back of the bowl with a sickening splatter that had his stomach turning over itself so hard he almost gasped in pain. A guttural retch tore from the back of his throat and left it raw, even more sensitive to the burn as a harsher, chunkier wave left him gasping for air. Coughing and spluttering, he drew in as much of a breath as he could before the pressure built on the back of his tongue again.

Lip writhed against the floor, struggling to try and stay upright as his body strained to purge everything he could. Over and over he lurched over the bowl, bringing up the dregs at the very bottom of his stomach and then some, eventually just left dry heaving without any sign of it stopping. 

Somewhere in the chaos, he hear a knock on the door, and whoever it was didn’t even wait to be invited, just walking into the bathroom. Thankfully it was just Ian, Lip didn’t think he could deal with the younger kids coming in right now. 

Ian wrinkled his nose up at the smell. “Dude, I can hear you barfing through my pillow.” He complained, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms and watching Lip cough into the water with a bored expression. 

“So sorry” Lip growled, heaving painfully on the end of his words and somehow managing to bring up a pathetic mouthful of stomach acid. Stubborn strings of saliva and vomit clung to his lips and chin and he groaned in frustration, spitting as best he could to try and remove them. When he turned to look up at Ian he was on the stool in front of the sink, looking out of the window as he let his bladder drain slowly. “Didn’t Fiona tell you to stop pissing in the sink?” he muttered, snatching a few squares of toilet paper off of the roll and wiping his mouth, then taking great cation to fold it so the mess was all inside so that he could blow his nose. 

“No, she told Carl to stop shitting in it, didn’t tell me anything.” Ian replied, tugging his pajama bottoms back into place and stepping down, taking the cigarette- that Lip had taken great care to keep intact through all this -from between Lip’s fingers and put it to his own mouth, taking a drag.

“Don’t do that, I’ve just puked my actual guts up.” Lip spoke, trying to force the words around the rising need to belch without risking a round three. Ian shrugged, watching Lip defiantly as he blew the smoke out of his mouth, grin on his face.

“Don’t care, if I catch anything I get a day off school, I don’t see a downside.”

“You mean apart from the puking? Well, there’s the stomach cramps,” Lip began, Ian just shrugged. Burping into his palm, Lip continued. “And then there’s the constant worry that you’re gonna shit yourself”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Ian smirked, and Lip scowled at him.

“It’s not as fun as it looks, okay? And who’s going to look after you if I’m already sick? Carl? Debbie? Because Fiona is too busy with her jobs and Steve is going to be off somewhere stealing some poor fucker’s car”

“I can look after myself, you know.” Ian frowned at him, stubbing out the cigarette in the sink and then flicking the end into the toilet water. He folded his arms over his chest.

“Sure you can, but the real question is, will you want to? I mean, the only real good side to being sick is having someone else do stuff for you.” Lip reached up to close the lid and flushed again, struggling to his feet only to have to sit down on the lid as a wave of dizziness threatened to lay him out on the linoleum.

“How do you know? You don’t even let anyone help you.”

“That’s because I have issues depending on people, just part of the Phillip Gallagher disposition.” Lip offered him a confident smile, or rather, a smile that was a confident as he could manage when it felt like someone had a hot knife in his gut. “If you’re going to bother me, can you go fetch me a glass of water or something?”

“Thought you had issues depending on people? Get it yourself.” Ian sat himself down on the edge of the bath, raising an eyebrow at Lip as his brother just blinked at him, unamused.

“Just go get me a drink, fuckhead, or I’ll puke on your bed.”

That got him moving

-

When Ian got back upstairs Lip was leant back against the system with his head resting against the wall, eyes closed and arms thrown over his stomach. Ian wasn’t sure if he was awake or not, until he went to kick him in the shin and Lip, obviously hearing the shifting fabric, opened his eyes to glare at him.

“Do you want me to throw up on your sheets?” He threatened, pushing himself up into a sitting position and taking the cup of water Ian handed him.

“You’re way more annoying when you’re sick” Ian muttered, sitting back down on the edge of the bath with a huff. Lip took a long, slow drink before he replied.

“Yeah well, you’re way more annoying when I’m sick, too. Why are you still here?” Lip drew his mouth into a thin line as he set the beaker on the edge of the sink, clearing his throat. Ian, stubbing the cigarette out in the sink, shrugged; he sat back on the edge of the bath.

“Now that’s part of the Ian Gallagher disposition. I care about people, you should try it sometime.”

“Nah, not for me. Tried it once, it was horrible.” Ian snorted, and Lip laughed quietly along with him, massaging his stomach with one hand, trying to ease the tension in his muscles.

Ian frowned, tilting his head to the side a little, watching Lip’s chest rise and fall in a stuttering way. “You okay? And don’t give me that bullshit about being fine, I mean it.”

In response, Lip blinked at him, face switching from blank to shocked in a matter of milliseconds as he realised what had just been said. He wasn’t too used to the other kids being so concerned about his welfare, even Fiona was never this concerned. He was just Phillip, you know? No one to worry about, he was always fine. He kept silent for a while, and Ian just waited patiently for a response. It made Lip feel important for once, and not in the same way he felt important when they needed to scrape together another 20 bucks for electric.

“I feel like shit.” Lip said eventually, turning his gaze to the floor, right where he’d worked a lot of the filth away with his knees. “My stomach is killing me and I feel really sick, and I’m tired.”

Ian nodded, thinking for a moment. It had been a long time since any of them were this sick, especially Lip. Sure, Lip got stupidly travel sick and whenever they went in a car- which was rare, mind -they always had to pull over so he could throw up on the sidewalk, but that’s not what Ian meant. In fact, thinking about it, he couldn’t actually remember a time when Lip was actually poorly-sick, not since they were little. 

“Wanna drag the bin out of the kitchen and watch tv until you fall asleep?” Ian offered, and Lip gave it a quiet moment of careful thought and then nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“Yeah, sounds awesome.”


End file.
